The news
and information in this section will be from varying sources.Not all sources are equal and horse sense
will be used to comment on the news or information as needed.Please don’t hesitate to do your own
research as well.Better informed,
better decisions.

The horwew have not
been there for five hundred years!It is genetically impossible.Without management and horses bringing new genetics to the small
islands the horses would have inbred and
died out.And that is a fact.Another fact is there was no Spanish Colonial horse breed 500 years
ago, or even 200 years ago.Most
of the common knowledge about free-roaming horses is myth and untrue.

All of the
free-roaming horses in the American West will become inbreed unless they are
managed.

“It was
originally thought that an effective population size of at least 50 was
necessary to avoid short-term inbreeding depression, but empirical work
suggests that if maintenance of fitness is important, effective population
sizes much larger than 50 are necessary. Theoretical studies suggest that
the figure could be closer to 5,000 for several reasons. First, new genetic
variation from mutations is added to a population more slowly than
originally thought (Lande, 1995). Mutations with large effects tend to be
detrimental and are removed from the population by natural selection, so the
overall mutation rate does not accurately predict the infusion of new
genetic variation. Second, the effects of inbreeding depression are likely
to be more severe in stressful environments (Jiménez et al., 1994; Pray et
al., 1994). Finally, slightly deleterious mutations may accumulate in
smaller populations and lead to a decline in fitness (Lynch and Gabriel,
1990; Charlesworth et al., 1993; Lande, 1994).” From Using Science to
Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program: A Way Forward, page 149
(pdf version)

The Feds don’t have to kill any horses to start solving the problem.They can sell the horses with a free and clear tittle.Yes, it is likely most of those sold would end up a kill plants.Don’t want them sent to a kill plant?Buy them and save them.
After the first sale the Wild Horse and Burro Program could immediately plan
additional gathers without out receiving more funding.In 4 to 6 years the on range population could be brought to AML and
bring in more funding by selling the horses as gathered.Instead of renewing off range pastures, sell the horses for even more
income and savings.The Wild
Horse and Burro Act of 1971 needs changed to a management plan for the
free-roaming horses on the public lands and drop all protections for horses
removed from the range.In 1971
the free-roaming horses didn’t need saved, they needed a management plan.Almost 50 years later and they still do!

The Wild Horse and
Burro Act of 1971 was basically an attempt to rewild horses, whose natural
habitat is grasslands, on the arid lands of the West.It hasn’t worked and repackaging it will not be successful.The free-roaming horses of the West need a management plan based on
reality!

Finding common ground to base a reality based
management plan for free-roaming horses and burros will be hard, but even
harder will be getting Congress to appropriately fund it and pass
legislation to support it.

Congress makes the rules governing free-roaming
horses and sets the budget, they need to become responsible horse owners or
be charged with animal neglect just as any other person or organization
would be!

Far to many wild horse advocates are like this
one who is speaking without a clue to what he is talking about.By definition, the AUM is the amount of forage needed by an “animal
unit” (AU) grazing for one month.AML is appropriate management level, one horse for one year, he has
that right.To compare AUMs to
AMLs the AUMs need to be divided by 12(months for 1 year) instead of
multiplied by 2.Where does the
2 come from?Probably from a cow
and calf being included in an AUM.You want free-roaming horses and have them, just leave the management
to those that have the knowledge and experience!

Bill Simpson noted the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California
recently recognized wild horses as native species to North America. So are
alligators, but they don't belong in the mountains of Northern California.
Neither do unmanaged free-roaming horses!

Craig Downer claims to be a wildlife biologist
so he should know the lower Salt River free-roaming horses are not in their
natural habitat.Instead they
are an invasive species on the lower Salt River.Horses did evolve on the grassland of North America, and grasslands
are their native habitat.Most
of his points are about as valid.

Many so called wild horse advocates really
don’t have a clue about free-ranging horses, cattle or range management.Cattle are removed from over grazed areas, unmanaged free-ranging
horses are not.Give the horses
more acreage and all you are doing is creating a bigger problem with more
horses needing removed in the future.

We need to stop the feel good fixes like making
bull-riding a thing of the past and begin dealing with real issues like
climate change, over population meeting our future energy needs and learning
how to get along with one another.

Even just decent hands with horses in the west, both past and present do not
break a horses spirit, but they do have to make a living.There is nothing wrong with the way this lady does it(as far as I
know), but I am sure she has never made aliving from training horses the way
she does.No one would be able
to afford to have her train a horse.

Those who want to rewild have lost touch with nature!Just look what is happening in NSWs Australia, the BLMs wild horses,
Oostvaardersplassen, the
Navajo Reservation and others.Rewilding makes it sound like we know what we are doing, and we
don’t.Just call it nature
calling the shots.

Some are shooting the starving horses to keep
them from dying a long painful death.Other are attempting to save the starving horses.One way is helping nature balance an over population of horses.The other way is ignoring nature and making future problems worse and
with more horses starving and suffering.Those saving the horses are not concerned about the horses, other
game or the range,they are
selfishly trying to stop the emotional pain they feel, damn the
consequences.

This isn’t a focus on history.It is promoting the myths surrounding todays so called wild horses
and rewriting history to fit the myths.In the third paragraph, “they were rounded up, branded, and broken to
become saddle horses.”Next it
says, “efforts to trap the wild mustangs were ineffective.”They called it right the first time.The old timers were good hand and knew how to gather wild horses, or
more accurately free-roaming horses.

A must read for all wild horse advocates!You want to rescue wild horses?Do it on your own dime!
Don’t warehouse them on public lands, in corrals or on rented pastures.The Wild Horse and Burro Program should sell all excess animals.You wild horse advocates have the same opportunity to buy those
horses and burros as kill buyers.